I have been impressed with the level of respect shown between the main protagonists in MotoGP lately.

Last race again Spies, Stoner and Pedro were all quite chummy on the way to the podium and it is obvious that the current alpha males (Pedro, Jlo, Stoner, Spies, and Dovi) seem to be keeping the hostilities to a minimum and allowing their aggression to be taken out on the racetrack.

It seems however the only exception again is Rossi who recently had a few uncomplimentary words for both Stoner & Jlo - his two favourite whipping boys. His jibes aimed at the 2 championship leaders were classic Rossi mind game fodder and once again his bizarre rating system re-surfaced....downrating Stoners previously awarded perfect 10/10 score to a 9.5/10 and uprgarding Lorenzo from his original 9.5/10 to a now perfect 10/10 score in reference to a question he was asked regarding whom he believed was the championship favourite and better rider this season. It maybe time for them to issue a joint press release containing his performance rating for season 2011

The only problem for him is he is at present completely irrelevant and they probably could care less about his obvious attempts at creating dischord and friction - an environment in which he thrives and one he promotes for competitive advantage whenever the opportunity arises.

Anyway I enjoyed seeing the podium guys interacting in such a positive way as the bitching and sooking was getting out of hand at the start of this year and it was all getting a bit tedious.

I agree. Not only are they respectful of each other they also only try to beat each other on the track. It does not appear to me that any of them are playing politics or trying to get leverage of the track over each other. It says to me that they do not fear being beaten by each other because together they lift the talent higher and respect for the eventual winner is greater because they had to win fair and square.

I also agree that Rossi is presently irrelevant and any mind games he tries are just plain laughable. I would love to see the score card Stoner and Lorenzo would give to Rossi and the fallout from it if they did.

I agree. Not only are they respectful of each other they also only try to beat each other on the track. It does not appear to me that any of them are playing politics or trying to get leverage of the track over each other. It says to me that they do not fear being beaten by each other because together they lift the talent higher and respect for the eventual winner is greater because they had to win fair and square.

I also agree that Rossi is presently irrelevant and any mind games he tries are just plain laughable. I would love to see the score card Stoner and Lorenzo would give to Rossi and the fallout from it if they did.

If I were to give Rossi a score now it would be:

Development skills 3/10

Riding Skills 3/10

Race Skills 9/10

Wouldnt expect anything less from you Mental. I do agree that Rossi's mind games are pretty daft and futile but saying his riding skills are 3/10 is pretty funny...i think Jorge and Stoner would disagree with you as to say that, would be akin to playing the very same games Rossi keep trying to play. As for development, remember you cant polish a turd...unless you're Stoner

Wouldnt expect anything less from you Mental. I do agree that Rossi's mind games are pretty daft and futile but saying his riding skills are 3/10 is pretty funny...i think Jorge and Stoner would disagree with you as to say that, would be akin to playing the very same games Rossi keep trying to play. As for development, remember you cant polish a turd...unless you're Stoner

Why is 3/10 for riding skills funny? The bike was a race winning bike. He has failed to ride it to a race win and therefore he could not be given higher than a 5 which would be a pass mark in my books. Remember he is considered to be the GOAT by many and in my opinion if he wants to be called the GOAT then he better be able to ride and win on anything he throws his leg over. My scores are not for his career they are for this season.

I think 3/10 for development skills is also fair. On the same bike last year Hayden placed 4th in quite a few races. Rossi's feedback has sent the bike further back on the grid then last year so I hardly think it can be said that he has had a pass mark on development. Remember he was hired to make the bike user friendly so that every body could ride it. The result so far is no one can ride it not even him. The same bike won races last season.

I gave a 9/10 for Race Skills because I think based on the other 2 scores he has raced bloody well. He is clearly struggling with the bike yet he has been able to use his considerable racing ability to drag the bike higher up the standings then he has looked at any other stage every race weekend. I actually considered giving him a 10.

I agree Stoner and Lorenzo would not give a score because they are not desperate nor are they vindictive.

Why is 3/10 for riding skills funny? The bike was a race winning bike. He has failed to ride it to a race win and therefore he could not be given higher than a 5 which would be a pass mark in my books. Remember he is considered to be the GOAT by many and in my opinion if he wants to be called the GOAT then he better be able to ride and win on anything he throws his leg over. My scores are not for his career they are for this season.

I think 3/10 for development skills is also fair. On the same bike last year Hayden placed 4th in quite a few races. Rossi's feedback has sent the bike further back on the grid then last year so I hardly think it can be said that he has had a pass mark on development. Remember he was hired to make the bike user friendly so that every body could ride it. The result so far is no one can ride it not even him. The same bike won races last season.

I gave a 9/10 for Race Skills because I think based on the other 2 scores he has raced bloody well. He is clearly struggling with the bike yet he has been able to use his considerable racing ability to drag the bike higher up the standings then he has looked at any other stage every race weekend. I actually considered giving him a 10.

I agree Stoner and Lorenzo would not give a score because they are not desperate nor are they vindictive.

So racing skills and riding skills dont go hand in hand? You having a laugh? 'aye he's an amazing racer but cant ride worth a fuck' c'mon Mental, i know you know thats crap.

I dont think he's a bad development rider either, the bike needs radical changes to make it more friendly, i dont think the engineers are going to hit the target everytime. You do remember how shit the M1 was before 2004 dont you? Hayden could well have been 4th yesterday if he hadnt of ballsed up his tyre choice....he was also in the mix in warm up...fastest he's been all season in warm up i think. What bike was he riding again?

I have been impressed with the level of respect shown between the main protagonists in MotoGP lately.

Last race again Spies, Stoner and Pedro were all quite chummy on the way to the podium and it is obvious that the current alpha males (Pedro, Jlo, Stoner, Spies, and Dovi) seem to be keeping the hostilities to a minimum and allowing their aggression to be taken out on the racetrack.

It seems however the only exception again is Rossi who recently had a few uncomplimentary words for both Stoner & Jlo - his two favourite whipping boys. His jibes aimed at the 2 championship leaders were classic Rossi mind game fodder and once again his bizarre rating system re-surfaced....downrating Stoners previously awarded perfect 10/10 score to a 9.5/10 and uprgarding Lorenzo from his original 9.5/10 to a now perfect 10/10 score in reference to a question he was asked regarding whom he believed was the championship favourite and better rider this season. It maybe time for them to issue a joint press release containing his performance rating for season 2011

The only problem for him is he is at present completely irrelevant and they probably could care less about his obvious attempts at creating dischord and friction - an environment in which he thrives and one he promotes for competitive advantage whenever the opportunity arises.

Anyway I enjoyed seeing the podium guys interacting in such a positive way as the bitching and sooking was getting out of hand at the start of this year and it was all getting a bit tedious.

I expect there's a more congenial atmosphere among the top 4 guys as they are being written up for what the do as individuals, as opposed to constantly being measured against Rossi on a daily basis.

So racing skills and riding skills dont go hand in hand? You having a laugh? 'aye he's an amazing racer but cant ride worth a fuck' c'mon Mental, i know you know thats crap.

I dont think he's a bad development rider either, the bike needs radical changes to make it more friendly, i dont think the engineers are going to hit the target everytime. You do remember how shit the M1 was before 2004 dont you? Hayden could well have been 4th yesterday if he hadnt of ballsed up his tyre choice....he was also in the mix in warm up...fastest he's been all season in warm up i think. What bike was he riding again?

Did you miss the constant comments from a section of the fan base that despite the speed of Stoner and the skills he so clearly displays he will never be the racer that Rossi was??????????

The fastest and the best rider does not always win. Why? Racecraft/raceskills. Rossi has them by the bucket full and he has displayed this this season. He has not displayed the same level of riding skills. He has taken down a rider, Stoner, through poor riding skills and he constantly looks terrible on the bike yet he finishes higher than I expect. Not sure what is not to understand about this???

If his development skills were good then he would have made some headway with the GP11 regardless of whether it needed wholesale changes or not. He never got the bike into the sweat spot. He never tweaked it well enough to get close to a win. He never found anything with it to pass on to other riders so they could do better then previous years riders. In my book he failed.

Did you miss the constant comments from a section of the fan base that despite the speed of Stoner and the skills he so clearly displays he will never be the racer that Rossi was??????????

The fastest and the best rider does not always win. Why? Racecraft/raceskills. Rossi has them by the bucket full and he has displayed this this season. He has not displayed the same level of riding skills. He has taken down a rider, Stoner, through poor riding skills and he constantly looks terrible on the bike yet he finishes higher than I expect. Not sure what is not to understand about this???

If his development skills were good then he would have made some headway with the GP11 regardless of whether it needed wholesale changes or not. He never got the bike into the sweat spot. He never tweaked it well enough to get close to a win. He never found anything with it to pass on to other riders so they could do better then previous years riders. In my book he failed.

I've seen those comments aye, whilst i think Casey is a faster rider i dont think he has craft of Rossi.....yet! He's a lot more patient this year though and knows that the bike will come to him, much more measured than he used to be thats for sure...probably the fickle nature of the heap of shit Ducati is to blame for that.

I agree with that statement as well Mental, the best rider doesnt always win, you cant deny though that to utilise your racecraft, you have to beable to ride the thing!

I think Rossi and his engineers hands are tied with the way the Ducati is built, adjustments that can be made to geometry etc are far less than they are used to, hence the radical redesign

I've seen those comments aye, whilst i think Casey is a faster rider i dont think he has craft of Rossi.....yet! He's a lot more patient this year though and knows that the bike will come to him, much more measured than he used to be thats for sure...probably the fickle nature of the heap of shit Ducati is to blame for that.

I agree with that statement as well Mental, the best rider doesnt always win, you cant deny though that to utilise your racecraft, you have to beable to ride the thing!

I think Rossi and his engineers hands are tied with the way the Ducati is built, adjustments that can be made to geometry etc are far less than they are used to, hence the radical redesign

I am not so sure about the Ducatis being any less tweakable than the other bikes but I think the setup window on the Ducati has far less margin for error and the ability to reproduce a consistent setup between supposedly identical race bikes is questionable on the Ducati - it was intimated that in the past due to the handcrafted nature of the trellis frame that consistentcy of setup was made more difficult but in theory other components may have also contributed to this phenomenom and still continue to do so.